Brake Hose shelf life

[WaltCasten]

Hello all, hope this doesn't turn into a "what kind of oil should I use?".

I recently purchased a set of new rubber brake hoses from one of the smaller U.S. based parts suppliers. They are Nelson Stokes brand out of England.

I was able to fit the RF but ran into a problem fitting the LF, which is a whole other story in itself, but in looking closer at the hose and its fittings noticed the date stamp on these hoses of 210296. I contacted Nelson Stokes about this via e-mail and they verified the manufacture date of the hose to be 21 Feb 1996.

Therefore these "brand new" hoses are already 20+ years old! I contacted Nelson Stokes about this but so far have not heard back. Anything I was able to find on line gives a shelf life of about 10 years, however in my experience I have found most of these to be pretty conservative to cover butts and sell more rubber parts I guess. But geez...these are over by 2X that.

Any thoughts about this before I contact the people I bought them from?

Thanks,
Walt

 

[Bob_Spidell]

... Any thoughts about this before I contact the people I bought them from?

I have the same thoughts you do: Rubber degrades with time, AFAIK without exception--possible exception being silicone 'rubber,' but I have no data--at a rate determined by composition, environment, etc. Since you're conscientious enough to be replacing these parts, you won't sleep well until you've installed hoses of newer manufacture*. If Nelson Stokes won't replace or refund, I think you should buy elsewhere. I installed new hoses on my BJ8 a few years ago, but if I was in the market now I'd seriously consider teflon stainless steel braided lines.

*I suspect there are owners driving around with the original hoses in their BN1s, but for me the stakes are too high (and it's not a terribly difficult job to do).

 

[John Turney]

Yes, 20 years is too old if you intend to drive the car. If you're going for a gold in concours, as soon as you get your certificate, I would change to the braided stainless hoses.

 

[Bob Claffie]

This is a little off the point BUT this summer I changed the flexible hoses in my vintage Corvette. They were original and fifty four years old and had never given me a problem, I just decided "it was time", (over time ?). On the other hand I have had terrible experience with "normal" British replacement rubber goods such as fan belts and especially radiator hoses. You are probably wise to go with somewhat newer hoses than 20 years old .

 

[steveg]

Yes, 20 years is too old if you intend to drive the car. If you're going for a gold in concours, as soon as you get your certificate, I would change to the braided stainless hoses.

Heartily agree - not expensive and a lot of safety-related issues here. Would add the SS hoses enable a noticeably firmer pedal.

 

[RAC68]

Walt,

I also agree with Bob and suggest you pursue replacements if for no other reason but to satisfy your concerns. As with Bob Claffie, I changed all my brake hoses back in 1989 and, when now considering they probably also had a substantial shelf residency, I expect their age is well in excess of 27 years of my install. Is this too old? Although all looks proper and do use silicone brake fluid, I don't want to be SURE it is too old with a brake line failure on my single circuit system. Maybe this will be my spring project. When thinking about shelf life, how could you be sure the rubber parts you receive are relative fresh and what length of time would be considered relatively fresh?

A friend who redid a BJ8 Phase 2 for "Concourse" competition liked to drive his car but, having acquired original wires with Dunlop RoadSpeed tires, would mount them just for shows. This is not something you would or should even think of doing when it comes to brake components.

All the best,
Ray(64BJ8P1)

 

[steveg]

Walt,

I also agree with Bob and suggest you pursue replacements if for no other reason but to satisfy your concerns. As with Bob Claffie, I changed all my brake hoses back in 1989 and, when now considering they probably also had a substantial shelf residency, I expect their age is well in excess of 27 years of my install. Is this too old? Although all looks proper and do use silicone brake fluid, I don't want to be SURE it is too old with a brake line failure on my single circuit system. Maybe this will be my spring project. When thinking about shelf life, how could you be sure the rubber parts you receive are relative fresh and what length of time would be considered relatively fresh?

A friend who redid a BJ8 Phase 2 for "Concourse" competition liked to drive his car but, having acquired original wires with Dunlop RoadSpeed tires, would mount them just for shows. This is not something you would or should even think of doing when it comes to brake components.

All the best,
Ray(64BJ8P1)

I thought the concours judges weren't allowed to ding you for safety-related improvements.

 

[WaltCasten]

This is a little off the point BUT this summer I changed the flexible hoses in my vintage Corvette. They were original and fifty four years old and had never given me a problem, I just decided "it was time", (over time ?). On the other hand I have had terrible experience with "normal" British replacement rubber goods such as fan belts and especially radiator hoses. You are probably wise to go with somewhat newer hoses than 20 years old .

Bob, you are lucky. Looking back, I was luckier.

I DID lose a brake hose on this car and managed to not only not die in a crash but got the car home as well. I was younger and much more stupid then, any sign of brake trouble today and my car is getting flat-bedded home. But I digress... This was shortly after I got the car back in '94, so a little more than 20 years ago. The way the split in the hose was, it would only shoot out a stream of fluid when the wheel was turned past a certain point, twisting the hose in a certain way.

This is part of why I'm a little concerned about this.

The hoses I am replacing show zero signs of trouble, in perfect condition, genuine Lockheed brand, but are the ones I put on when that one failed. They are 1994 date code. Therefore these "new" ones are only 2 years newer, albeit not with fluid in them which is why I pose this question.

I don't have a problem with using SS hoses as this isn't a concours car by any stretch of the imagination. I do wish they came in black as to be less conspicuous.

 

[John Turney]

I have a Nissan dual-circuit Master Cylinder for my disc brakes. When it got to be 10years old, I decided to rebuild it with new rubber. I ordered a rebuild kit only to discover that the kit was dated 1972. Uh, no. I now have a different MC.

 

[Dandare]

There are a couple of places in Oz (that I know of) that will make a brake hose from a sample while you wait...new fittings included.

Danny

 

[RAC68]

Hi Steve,

A little off subject but to respond, I know nothing about the Concourse competition regulations. I relayed a story of how a friend installs a set of original Dunlop wires with RoadSpeed tires mounted when he competes in that class. My point was they were only used for show and would never think of driving on such old rubber. I will ask him the next time I see him...probably in the summer.

Ray(64BJ8P1)

 

[WaltCasten]

I contacted the parts supplier yesterday. They were very helpful, felt bad this happened and asked for me to return them. They said they will be shipping me new hoses and will make sure to double check the dates on them this time before sending. It might be a little while until I get them as we're sending stuff ground and with the holidays shipping takes a little longer than normal. When it is all resolved, I will let everyone know as they are a supporting vendor of this site.